Institutional broker BTIG celebrated its annual commissions for charities day last Wednesday by raising $4.5 million for various charities.
The broker enjoyed healthy trading volumes on April 18, which helped make BTIG’s 10th annual Commissions for Charity Day a success, according to Steve Starker, co-founder of BTIG. This year the firm has 170 charities it plans to make donations to, 50 more than last year.
"This year marks another record year for money we will be donating, all thanks to the dedication and enthusiasm of our employees, clients, and celebrity traders." said Scott Kovalik, co-founder of BTIG. "We couldn’t be more proud of our employees’ hard work and the generosity of our clients that made today’s success possible."
Amid a temperate spring day in New York and discussions about strong corporate earnings, Citigroup’s shareholders rebuffing the bank’s $15 million pay package for chief executive Vikram Pandit and Warren Buffett’s health, BTIG traded 160 million shares.
The charities managed to benefit from low volatility and shrugged off the day’s mild sell-off, as program traders, hedge funds, mutual funds and other institutional accounts kept the phones ringing, Starker added.
"Order flow was mixed coming from all constituents," Starker said. "We thank everyone for their efforts in making this day possible."
Last year’s event was held on April 27, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average managed to post a respectable 95-point gain on positive U.S. economic news and the Federal Reserve’s announcement it would end its $600 billion bond purchase program. Against that backdrop, the broker raised more than $4 million.
The first BTIG Commissions for Children’s Charity Day raised funds for three charities.
This year BTIG donated the commissions it earned from the 160 million shares that changed hands in its equity and equity derivatives operations. The money will be divvied up between 155 nationwide charities, most of which are children’s charities. The charities, to name a few, include 180 Turning Lives Around, Alzheimer’ Society, A Little Hope, Beat the Streets, Fallen Officers, Genocide Intervention Fund , Mothers Against Drunk Driving , March of Dimes, St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital and the Starlight Children’s Foundation.
Celebrities helping raise money for children and manning the brokers’ phones around the country included; comedian Dana Carvey; New York Yankees Joe Girardi, Reggie Jackson, Nick Swisher, Mark Teixeira, Mariano Rivera, CC Sabathia and Jorge Posada; New York Football Giants Victor Cruz, Tom Coughlin, Eli Manning, David Diehl and Justin Tuck; New York Jets Rex Ryan, Curtis Martin and Joe Namath; celebrities Kelly Ripa, Michael J. Fox, Matt Dillon and Donny Deutsche.
BTIG has offices in New York, San Francisco, Dallas, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Greenwich, Conn., Red Bank, N.J. and Orinda, Calif. The firm also has four overseas affiliates in London, Hong Kong, Singapore and Sydney.
As is the broker’s longstanding practice, employees and clients not only contribute their time and finances to the event, but they also nominate charities and non-profits for donation consideration. BTIG encourages clients to select child focused organizations.
Since the event’s inception ten years ago, BTIG has raised upwards of $24 million.
